This composition is inspired by Abutsubo, a Japanese samurai of the thirteenth century who was a follower of the Nembutsu secret society and lived on the Sado Island. In those years, Sado was one of the most remote Japanese provinces where undesired people, political opponents, and prisoners were exiled. When the Buddhist monk Nichiren Daishonin was exiled to Sado in October 1271, Abutsu-bo visited him at Tsukahara to confront him in debate, but instead he converted to his teachings and became o...